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Hello/good evening/good night everyone.

You know, I often hear that RPG Maker is a game engine that is restricted to the turn-based RPG genre. Essentially, what also gives this reputation to this engine family is the fact that most of the users of RM are novices to whom Kadokawa, editor of the software, sells a lot of dream. They tell you that it becomes very easy to make a video game and that the software chews up your work... But if it were so simple, it would be known, and the RM game library would not be invaded by a majority of "games sloppy", using the same graphics and sound resources. Of course, RPG Maker simplifies a part of the work on the technical aspect, but not on the theoretical aspect. RPG Maker is first and foremost a computer program, it is only composed of 0s and 1s, it does not think, it executes. It is up to its user to know what to do with it.

And yet, it is possible to go beyond the RPG. RPG Maker has capabilities, it allows you to manipulate numeric variables, booleans, conditions, images and even allows you to integrate code since the XP version (Ruby from XP to VXace included, JavaScript since MV). That's what we're going to talk about, through HopDrop.

The integration of code in Ruby (as a reminder, HopDrop runs with VXace) allows miracles and to overcome the limits of the software. For HopDrop, Mode 7 is a wonderful tool. It is not used very much for gameplay, but allows to enhance the cutscenes and certain moments of the game (the title screen or Question for a Sphinx, subject of the devlog of last week). It is not the game in the service of technique, but the technique in the service of the game.

(demonstration of Mode 7)

This little gif shows where the real limit of RPG Maker is: the 3D render... But we are talking about Mode 7, which is a script and .dll apart from RPG Maker. Even with its simplest basics, image manipulation, it is possible to create a similar result. This is what I suggest you see, with the evolution of the 5th boss, Miss Osoley, whose second phase is in relief, using only the images of RPG Maker. As a bonus, I even did an aurora borealis.

The December 2017 version used Mode 7 for clouds scrolling. The versions since February 2019 are devoid of it. This boss fight has also given a game apart, using additional mechanics and its own universe. It will be featured on itch.io later.

And that's it for the news of the week. Remember to play HopDrop and be well :3 .